Our first ROSCO launch and NAR HPR Level 1 Certifications
This past Sunday, several of our members attended the Southern Area Rocketry (SoAR) ROSCO launch in Dalzell, South Carolina:
- Brian Nee
- Chisom Maxwell
- Enedelia Garcia-Romero
- Varun Ahlawat
- Vijay Wulfekuhle
We launched two successful rockets, each of which achieved a NAR High-Powered Rocketry Level 1 Certification for its respective pilot:
- Jigless Fin (Varun Ahlawat): A modification of the Madcow Torrent kit with fiberglass-reinforced fin can section. We used steel BB pellets and epoxy for nosecone weighting. For propulsion, we used a reusable I-class motor from Aerotech.
- Zeus’ Crayon (Chisom Maxwell): A LOC-IV kit rocket with H-class one-time-use motor.
Congratulations to Chisom and Varun, and thank you to all others who supported the development of these rockets and assisted with the launch! We extend a special thank-you to the UGA AIAA chapter leadership for advice and feedback which helped us to get started.
We did have another attempted launch of Jigless Fin at the SoAR Turkey & GRITS launch site in Nashville, Georgia in November 2024, but the avionics we developed in-house had an electronics issue on the field, so we had to scrub this launch. Our members who attended this GRITS launch event included:
- Carter Hinsley
- Chisom Maxwell
- Renato Quiroz
- Varun Ahlawat
- Vijay Wulfekuhle
Next steps
Our next aim is for several of our members to attain the HPR Level 2 certification by the end of this Spring semester, as well as a secondary goal of launching a rocket with our custom avionics system. We will continue to certify club members with HPR Level 1 certifications at each launch for all those who wish to pilot their own rockets.
Because ROSCO launches are a monthly scheduled event, we have many opportunities for new club members to receive mentorship and get hands-on experience. Please consider joining us!
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